I wonder why they wear this. Is it funny? I don’t have cable tv, so I may be missing something.
Our troops in Afghanistan are doing a great and important job. Is Afghanistan a more dire place than Iraq?
Maybe if I were a vet I would understand this patch.

For those of you who don’t know, the phrase “you bastards!” is a running joke on “South Park,” particularly during the first couple of seasons. Trying to explain in more detail would be difficult and pointless. But the reference is entirely humorous.

Afghanistan is, from what I’ve heard, pretty sucky duty, and this kind of humor is nothing new in military circles.

When I was doing my interviews with the Swift Boat Vets, I uncovered a couple of old patches used by Navy personnel that used Snoopy. One was just Snoopy, another was of Snoop in his “World War I flying ace” helmet, piloting his “Sopwith Camel.” I featured them (without comment) here and here.

pinkmonkeybird
” I wonder why they wear this. Is it funny? I donÃ¢Â€Â™t have cable tv, so I may be missing something.
Our troops in Afghanistan are doing a great and important job. Is Afghanistan a more dire place than Iraq? Maybe if I were a vet I would understand this patch.”

You don’t have to be a vet to understand sardonic and/or gallows humour. But I suppose it helps.

When things look bleak, and trouble is all around, it helps to find what bits of humour you can. Knock-knock jokes just don’t cut it, but gallows humour does.

My friend Carolyn who is currently in Iraq sent another friend of mine a similar patch. It features Kenny saying “You sent me to Iraq! You bastards!” The workmanship is better on the kenny in iraq one. Here’s a picture I took of it: http://img157.exs.cx/img157/9404/kennyiniraq7tn.jpg